God is not dead at the Easter box office

Easter is a faith based holiday with pagan roots and commercial opportunities for both.

According to Wikipedia the Easter bunny is "a legendary anthropomorphic gift giving character analagous to Santa," But while Americans spent $469 billion at Christmas in 2012, they spent just $16.8 at Easter, mostly on Cadbury Creme Eggs.

One Easter industry experiencing growth is Christian movies, another of which was released Wednesday. The film "Heaven Is For Real" is based on the "true story" of a boy who briefly died and went to heaven whose pastor father is played by Greg Kinnear.

These are often smaller budgeted films whose moral values can be greater than their production values, with often recognizable stars. Marketed almost exclusively to a grass roots base of churches they are rarely previewed for mainstream critics but often surpass mainstream films at the box ofice.

The box office champ in the Christian film field - depending on your definition - is probably "Soul Surfer," an inspirational true story about a girl's recovery from a shark attack, with Dennis Quaid, Carrie Underwood, Helen Hunt and Sorbo. According to the Hollywood Reporter there was a struggle over how much faith based content to include in the film. The Huffington Post wondered if it was too religious or not religious enough.

A Christian Broadcast Network review said it had a "storyline filled with Christian scripture ... prayer, and worship at a beachside church service" but that "the dialogue is lacking in a couple of key scenes."

The recently released "Son of God," which earned $59 million, has Hollywood roots in producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, and was taken from a TV miniseries.

The top grossing Christian themed film is Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ," which has earned $370 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Hollywood meanwhile tries to horn in on the genre, with blockbuster fare like "Noah," called "misguided" by CBN. "The faith communithy will be highly disappointed." It has earned $85 million. This Christmas will see the release of Ridley Scott's "Exodus," on Dec. 12, with Christian Bale as Moses.